As i stated earlier, I'm not a fan of adding multiplayer to RPGs. With that said and with me being an achievement crazed gamer, I'm concerned that the niche nature of TW2 may cause a situation where getting the multiplayer achievements becomes hard...

Think Mortal Kombat 3 on XBLA. (of course, not that severe)

I guess there's always the trading threads, but I prefer to actually enjoy playing MP during my achievement hunting and not just make it an exercise or a chore.

Anyway, I didn't come here just to complain about MP being in the game. I'm also concerned that the improvements may not be as great as they've been advertised. I loved TW1, but don't think I could put up with a sequel with a framerate as bad as it.

I'm also concerned about the inventory system. I loved being able to couple weapons together to make stronger weapons. They did away with that this go 'round. I hope whatever they've replaced it with is just as fun to use.

I'm also concerned about the inventory system. I loved being able to couple weapons together to make stronger weapons. They did away with that this go 'round. I hope whatever they've replaced it with is just as fun to use.

I guess we'll see.

You can still make your weapons stronger. What they've done this time is a feature where you can breakdown almost everything you pick up into components.
Say you pick up an axe, if you break it down you get: 2 parts iron, 1 part steel and 2 parts wood. These parts can then be used to upgrade your weapon.
The number of parts u need to use goes up the higher the level of your weapon becomes.

I was very concerned indeed about this game as I started off enjoying the first game and ended up absolutely HATING it.

I've been playing on Normal for about 24 hours and am still on Chapter 1 - all I can say is that this one is so much of an improvement it is unreal! Framerate is very smooth indeed the only minor problems I have noticed is when teleporting into a busy area, you get a little 5-10 second freeze, but nothing as bad as, say, Fable 3 (although Powerpoint is better than Fable 3). There can be a bit of a judder as well if you sprint around a city wearing boots that increase your speed by 20%, but again, nothing you wouldn't get in a lot of games and certainly not worth complaining about. Load times are excellent as well - surprisingly fast.

The MP is a bit odd, but not unwelcome. You can have up to 6 persistent characters Male or female, human, elf, half-elf, dwarf or half-orc and you have to pick a class such as two weapon warrior, sword and shield warrior, fire mage and what have you. You do have to keep your character specialised as you earn far fewer skillpoints in MP. The MP co-op adventure is actually very decent in a hack and slash kind of way and can be solo'ed without too much hassle. The only MP achievements that might be annoying are the Build a building in Village mode, then build 15 buildings in Village mode, as you need 10000 auras (gold) to even unlock Village mode.

In general, with a good group the MP adventure is excellent, but the other modes can be hit and miss, but when it works, it works well.

I could go on about the excellent combat, very deep and highly customisable spell creation system and the VASTLY improved voice acting, but I could be here all day!